Week 5: April 29th - May 3rd

[cartesio]

Fifth Week

Everything's getting worse. Rose Nylund and Frasier Crane murdered Jughead Jones during the event Jughead worked so hard to organize. Given some of the townspeople were in attendance, it didn't give a good impression -- if the visitors did this when trying to be good people and get along with Cartesio, then how will they behave once they get into destroying everything? The cruel method of Jughead's death also left everyone quite horrified, too.

That may be why it's no surprise the town's quiet unrest is slowly turning into real, tangible fury.

During the week, from time to time stones break some of the windows of the motel, looking outside shows a random passerby running away. Graffiti is left on the walls: 'SEE IF YOU LIKE THIS' 'MURDERERS' 'YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY US ALL', and other similar messages. Some of the store owners hesitate when the visitors approach, but they don't refuse service because money is always nice.

The Sergeant's pervasive influence is starting to cover not only you, but also the entire town of Cartesio. After all, everything that's happening to you and the motel? It's the result of what you and the other visitors have done.

In the lobby of the motel there's a few more brochures, and the maps have been updated once again.

Links

IC Rules
Guestbook
Room Assignments
Events
Locations
NPCs
Activity Check

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

[Welcome to the fifth week! If you want to contact the Sergeant, please post here!. Also please remember to submit your activity check!]

Comments

Mini-event, Thursday Evening

[cartesio]

[ Is anyone visiting the casino this Thursday evening? The locals largely don't seem to be in the mood for gambling, and who can blame them after what has become of their town? The game machines are thus almost all free for usage by tourists. The atmosphere inside the casino is gloomy.

Which makes it seem quite odd that gorgeous sky spotlights are on full display, illuminating the dusk from their placement on the roof of the casino. ]

[quickpersuader]

[The casino has become Kino's new designated dinner place thanks to the buffet ticket, but...

The lights are new. She'll watch them a while, curious. ]

[cartesio]

[ They're quite pretty! It appears that they're set for a slow rotation pattern, softly making their way through the night-sky. You're welcome to watch them as long as you wish, but they don't do anything extraordinary. Want to go inside? ]

[quickpersuader]

[Not like she has anything else planned! In she goes.

Is there anything notably off about the casino inside, or should we be looking for the source of the lights?]

[relieable]

[Osomatsu enters the casino a few minutes after Kino. once he spots her, his eyes narrow slightly, but he walks over to join her anyway.

hopefully she won't blow up this place, too. like her, he'll look for anything off about the casino interior]

[cartesio]

[ The casino seems completely normal at first glance, but as Kino heads further inside to look for the spotlight control console... she'll hear happy 8bit music from one of the pin-ball machines. That would be pretty normal, if only there was someone actually playing. There isn't.

Yet the game is in full motion on the screen - and the play style is definitely not smooth enough to be computer generated. ]

[quickpersuader]

[She glances his way but ultimately ignores the look. Instead she heads for the pinball machine, eyebrows raising in confusion.]

Do these... normally play themselves?

[carbide]

If they do, I have not seen it happen before.

[Hello yes Olympia has been here all along. Don't question her cactus.]

[relieable]

[hmm... he looks over the game]

I mean, usually there are demo reels for games...

[what happens if he presses buttons?]

[marmoron]

[+1 on the super distrust on Kino right now, actually. Keith's walking into the casino with the space wolf and it's pretty clear he's perfectly happy to not say a word to anyone right now. He does stop by the pinball machine because it's not behaving normally and isn't that a familiar occurrence.

Are there any other machines acting up?]

[cartesio]

[ Not at first, but if he is patient for a moment and paying close attention he will note there is a machine playing pachinko with itself. ]

[relieable]

[Osomatsu was on his way back to the motel, but when he sees the lights, he decides to check out the casino. this is... strange. he stands outside for a moment, watching the lights]

[cartesio]

[ Good choice, they're very soothing. They don't tell you anything more though. ]

[carbide]

[...same, actually, which is why she's carrying a small potted cactus.]

[marmoron]

[Does he feel like doing anything remotely related to what goes on at the casino? No. But Keith's out with Cosmo and when he spots those lights, he figures he's going to stop and take a look.]

[cartesio]

[ Unless Keith would like to enjoy the light show a little longer, he'll spot the other exploring group inside. ]

[icariot]

[Hawks has probably many mistakes in his life, and today’s is apparently to fly too close to the casino—because that sure is a megawatt light he just got to the eyes.

Dooooown he goes....]

[pecker]

[Niwa actually hangs out here fairly often, it being the closest to video games she can get to in a place like this. The light show is super intriguing though! Maybe it's a sign she can win something big again. Unless something catches her eye first, she's going to note the lack of anyone around with curiosity and then walk over to her usual, the video poker machine.

Also, there's some fluffy orange birds following her around from a distance.]

[cartesio]

[ For now, Niwatori gets to experience a normal and hopefully fun gameplay experience! Luckily, she is practiced at this game, so as her game finishes, she'll receive a friendly message and triumphant music: ]

NEW HIGH SCORE!

ENTER PLAYER NAME: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[ There are 16 characters that can be entered. ]

[pecker]

[Well what kind of spy just puts their name on a machine. She won't, so she'll just put in something 16 characters.]

CIRCLING VULTURE

[This is totally the mood after they can't get food from their usual spot anymore!! And it's also the mood for trying to chase down dead bodies, which apparently everyone else thinks they're doing. Thanks birds for showing her the shenanigans while she plays.]

[cartesio]

[ Congratulations for reaching rank 2 on the single player scoreboard!

Interestingly though, the score display is clicked away rather fast. It seems the game is set to multiplayer...? And someone is sure playing. Give your best, Niwatori! ]

[pecker]

[Niwatori tilts her head at the sudden shift to multiplayer, when there's no one around. She's pretty good at the game, but her bluffing skills don't work on computers, so not as good as she could be. She's a very cautious player.]

Is this connected to the internet?

[cartesio]

[ The machines have never connected to the internet before. Multiplayer is only possible casino-internally.

The opponent player isn't bad at the game themselves, though after a struggle they find themselves on the losing end against Niwatori's experience.

The system thinks Niwatori's gameplay was pretty good and the familiar prompt to enter a scoreboard pops up. ]

NEW HIGH SCORE!

ENTER PLAYER NAME: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[pecker]

[Spooky!! Well, she'll play along then. Have a nice chat-]

What do you want

[you don't have to be polite to "dead people".

Let's start another game. This time... should she go easy? Eh but that would be throwing away money. Let's just hope they do better this time.]

MINI-EVENT END

[cartesio]

[It was such a rare event to communicate with people who say they're the deceased, yet here they were. That's why the end comes as suddenly as the start.

Slowly, from the center of the casino and towards the outside, everything starts turning off. One by one, the games turn off, the lights do too, until everything is dark -- a natural dark, expected from a blackout.

Until, from a LED display on a liquors bar, shows:

"alivehere.1stgrpmssng2weeksmemry.didntdie.cansee1stgrp.brainwashed?theydontseehearus.somenot.wecantseehearyou.watch4us.falsehouses.missyou"

The message lasts only a minute. Once that passes, everything turns on, and the message vanishes. The casino is back to normal. The games aren't moving anymore, no more messages come. The only hint stuff really did happen is that the high score lists remain unchanged, the messages still there]